WATER THE WORLD, NOT THE LANDFILLS!

Come on, you know you do it. We’ve all done it. We don’t think twice about it. But now it’s time to think, and to stop watering the landfills.

“What are you babbling on about now?,” you ask. I’m pointing out that every time you throw away a half-full water bottle, a cup of ice, or an unfinished can of Coke, you’re taking that water out of the water cycle. It ends up in landfills, huge lined trash graveyards where the liquids can’t escape into the ground or evaporate into the air. They are removed from the water cycle that has sustained our planet and all the living things on it since life began here. For a simplified illustration of the water cycle, please visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html.

Think about how many times you yourself have thrown away a bottle with water or pop still left in inside. Take a look in a public trashcan and notice how many bottles, cans, and disposable cups are there with fluids still inside. It all adds up.

What can you do to help? Simple: Put liquids back in the water cycle. Empty bottles, cups, and cans into the sink or outside so the fluids go back into the water cycle. The liquids you pour into the sink will go into the municipal water treatment system; those you pour onto the ground will get absorbed into the soil (and eventually into the groundwater) or it will be evaporated into the sky and eventually come down as rain.

The drought in California and the recent problems with water contamination in West Virginia and in Toledo, Ohio serve to remind us how much we rely on water. It is essential to our very lives. It is time to start treating water as the precious commodity it is and to stop watering the landfills. Instead, water the world by putting water back into the water cycle so we can use it again and again.